BEST of Each Round
Knowing how to approach each round of your fantasy draft will help you walk away with a winning roster for the entire season.
Round 1: Jahmyr Gibbs (RB - DET)
Gibbs enters 2026 as the unquestioned engine of one of the league's best offenses, and every offseason move points the same direction: more work, less resistance.
David Montgomery is gone (traded to Houston in March), leaving Gibbs as the Lions' undisputed RB1… newcomer Isiah Pacheco is a $1.81M depth add, not a threat to his volume.
He was already elite in a timeshare: 3rd in targets (89), 4th in weighted opportunities (274.1) and red zone touches (62), and 2nd in fantasy points per opportunity.
His schedule is about to get dramatically easier: it projects as 3rd-easiest projected for RBs in 2026, one of the biggest swings at the position league-wide.
A full-time role, a top-five offense, and a massive schedule upgrade… that's the profile of a true Round 1 anchor. Good luck getting him if you’re picking after the first two.
Round 2: A.J. Brown (WR - NE)
The trade went about as well as it could have for Brown's fantasy outlook: a fresh start next to one of the league's most explosive young quarterbacks… and reunited with a coach he trusts.
New England traded a 2028 first-round pick for Brown, instantly making him Drake Maye's WR1 in a Patriots offense that finished 2nd in the NFL in scoring.
His volume was already elite in a scheme built to suppress it — 121 targets and a 29.5% target share even in Philadelphia's run-first system.
Reception Perception data backs up the alpha profile: Brown posted a 69.2% success rate versus man coverage and 73.0% versus zone.
Take a proven 1,000-yard-per-season alpha, hand him to an MVP-runner-up quarterback in a pass-first offense, and the touchdown regression alone could make this a steal.
Round 3: Josh Allen (QB - BUF)
Allen didn't just lead all quarterbacks in 2025… he lapped the field. He’s been automatic as a Top-3 fantasy scorer for the past six seasons.
He finished as the overall QB1, leading the position in points per game (22.0) and fantasy points per dropback (0.75).
His rushing floor is unmatched: 14 rushing touchdowns and now the most career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in NFL history.
Buffalo upgraded his weapons by trading for DJ Moore and promoted Joe Brady to head coach, a move aimed at opening up an even more aggressive passing attack.
There's no safer floor-meets-ceiling combination at the position... if you have a shot at Allen, he’s worth taking here.
Round 4: Emeka Egbuka (WR - TB)
With Mike Evans now in San Francisco, the WR1 job in Tampa Bay belongs to Egbuka, and his rookie tape suggests he's more than ready for it.
Before a late-season dip, he opened his rookie year with 40 catches for 677 yards and 6 touchdowns through his first nine games.
He ranked 9th in the NFL in targets (127) but 2nd in unrealized air yards (959) — a signal that the ceiling is even higher once efficiency catches up to volume.
A revamped coaching staff, led by new OC Zac Robinson, is taking over an offense that ranked just 21st in total yards, with real room to grow.
A true target-hog role in an offense with nowhere to go but up… this is the breakout profile you draft a round early, not a round late.
Round 5: Christian Watson (WR - GB)
Watson quietly outproduced his draft slot in 2025, and the target competition around him just thinned out considerably.
Despite playing only 10 games, he ranked 15th among all receivers in fantasy points per game (13.2), racking up 611 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He was a top-four efficiency receiver league-wide: 4th in yards per route run (2.65), yards per target (11.1), and yards per catch (17.5).
The departures of Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks clear a path to a larger target share, and Green Bay just backed that role with a 4-year, $110.5 million extension.
Elite efficiency plus an expanding role and a new long-term contract… Watson is exactly the kind of value that makes a Round 5 pick feel like a steal by midseason.
So that’s the list. The best draft targets in the early rounds of fantasy this season.
-Joe